Goodbye Love
by rogers.forbidden.love.child
Summary: I can't believe he's gone,' Sharpay wept. 'Me neither,' Chad muttered through his tears. 'Goodbye brother,' Sharpay whispered before walking away. Taypay.
1. Goodbye Love

"I can't believe he's gone," Sharpay wept.

"Me neither," Chad said, barely managing to restrain his sobs.

They both stood in front of the long mahogany coffin with the picture of a smiling Ryan Evans on top.

"He always hated that picture," Sharpay said, smiling through her tears at the irony of it all.

"Yeah well what do you expect when you let the parents organise the funeral?" Troy whispered with a sad smile on his lips as he joined them in front of the coffin.

The three of them stared at the picture a moment before Sharpay reached out to grab it, Chad replacing it with a picture he had hidden inside his long leather coat. She passed the old picture to him and he tucked it within one of the many pockets he had in the inside lining.

Sharpay reached out once more to tenderly place her hand on top of the wood of the coffin. "Goodbye brother," she whispered before turning to walk back to her seat. On her way she spared a glance in the direction of Taylor who was sat with Gabriella. Both girls did nothing to hide the tears that were streaming down their faces. For a moment, Sharpay's eyes locked with Taylor's in a hard stare that displayed none of the love that they had once shared. Taylor lost her nerve first, using the movement of Gabriella as an excuse to lower her eyes from Sharpay's gaze.

Sharpay carried on walking, sliding into her seat beside Kelsi. She looked at the other girl, who never took her eyes off Gabriella, Sharpay noticing how Kelsi seemed to particularly concentrate on the way the Latino girls hips swayed when she walked.

"Shouldn't you be sitting with her?" Sharpay asked out of genuine curiosity.

"Don't even go there," Kelsi growled dangerously, still not taking her eyes off of Gabriella.

Sharpay was shocked. She had never heard Kelsi talk in such a way to anyone. Well she had but she had never spoken to her that way before. She guessed that Kelsi still hadn't gotten over the fact that Gabriella kept flirting with other women, especially women in rubber.

Sharpay considered the option of moving to sit somewhere else and swivelled in her seat to survey the mostly empty church. Her parents may have organised this funeral but they sure as hell couldn't attend it. They thought that at least by organising it, they would buy them selves a little shred of retribution in the eyes of their daughter. It didn't. It was sad that most of the family had shunned Ryan during his later years. He had graduated from high school with more than halfway decent grades like they all had. It was just his choice to dress up in women's clothing that ostracised him from the family.

Every one of the East High alumni were here today hadn't done as well as they could have in their final exams, with only one of them being accepted to college. They had all been hit hard by the loss of two of their friends to the vile virus AIDS. No one knew how both of them had contracted the disease but it had had a ripple effect throughout the entire group. With Jason gone, both Troy and Chad couldn't concentrate on their basketball anymore and with Martha gone, both Kelsi and Taylor were like lost sheep.

But it had had even worse repercussions some members of the group. At a party after the last ever championship game for the Wildcats, everyone had gotten drunk and eventually paired up with someone. It was just unfortunate for the Evans twins that the people they had paired up with had been Martha and Jason. With all of them still unaware of the virus that was inside them, Chad and Ryan had hooked up as had Jason and Taylor.

Then the deaths had started and the panic took over. The discovery of the virus inside them was made and they soon discovered that none of them could concentrate. Apart from Gabriella, who shut herself off from everybody for over a month, trying to study without letting the outside world affect her. She was the only one who got accepted into college, but had dropped out after only a month, not having enough money to afford it.

Both Sharpay and Ryan were kicked out of the house and cut off from their family's money. This was a decision that was only made easier for their parents when they found out both their children were in homosexual relationships, they both had AIDS and that they both liked to dress in women's clothing.

Troy had moved out of his house voluntarily, as had Zeke. They all moved in together and after a while were joined by Gabriella.

After about two months, Gabriella had moved out again after having a revelation that she was lesbian and had gotten involved in a relationship with a not so reluctant Kelsi, who had picked herself up after the disaster that was her high school exam results and was now attending night classes that, if she were lucky, could lead to her obtaining a law degree.

Zeke, meanwhile, had gotten into a relationship with Kelly, the daughter of the man who owned the apartment building they lived in. They had eloped to Vegas and before Troy, Ryan and Sharpay knew it they were promised free rent on the building for as long as they liked.

Word had spread that the building was rent free now and people from all across Albuquerque had flocked to get a room. Taylor had moved in, as had Chad who had moved with his parents to Santa Rosa after high school.

Sharpay, after learning she had contracted AIDS from Jason, had become ever more reclusive. She had stayed the same for a bit after high school, joining a band in which she sang lead. But the band had split and Sharpay had escaped into herself. She had used drugs to try to help her get over herself, injecting, snorting or smoking anything she could get her hands on. But then Ryan had found out and he had forced her to get clean.

She got clean and tried to concentrate on her music again, but then Taylor had come back into their lives.

Chad had gotten his own place and Ryan had moved with him. Zeke had moved out long ago, to live his new wife and their stupid little yappy dog. Which left just her and Troy in their roof apartment.

Taylor had moved in below them sometime ago, they had just never noticed. Well, Sharpay hadn't. But she certainly had the night Taylor came up to her apartment looking for her.

Troy was often out late into the night, filming the homeless or one of those meetings for people with AIDS that Sharpay never saw the point in attending. As long as she took her AZT's she would be ok, at least until they stopped working and the virus took hold. She didn't need to sit in some circle and listen to strangers stories and have them listen to her and judge her like she knew they would. She really didn't know why Chad and Ryan bothered going.

Those nights it was usually just her and her guitar, but Taylor would often disturb her feeble attempts at song writing and after a while Sharpay just got tired of pushing out the door.

They would sit up most of the night and talk, mainly about trivial things and their own memories of the times they had all shared together as a group back in 'the good old days' of East High. They both knew of the feelings one had for the other, but after the first whirlwind night, they agreed to take it slow and to just get comfortable with each other again.

Well that 'getting to know each other after years spent apart' period had lasted oh about a month, one and a half tops, and thus their love had continued to blossom and grow with disturbance. Then Zeke had gone back on his word and threatened them with eviction, only reconsidering when Taylor met him for dinner.

Sharpay's blood had boiled and she had broken things off with Taylor because of it, pushing her away every opportunity she got. Today was the first time she was in the same room as her since New Years Day.

Sharpay let out a sigh that came out louder than she intended it to be.

She let her eyes wander back to the front where Troy, Chad and now Gabriella were stood. Gabriella had folded herself into Troy's arms and she swore she could feel Kelsi bristle beside her. She swallowed ad counted the seconds until this thing was over and they all got to calm down in the fresh autumn air. Not that she didn't want to have a funeral for her brother, it's just that he wouldn't want his funeral to be remembered as a time when everyone fought and bickered.

Her eyes again scanned those gathered here today, picking out the best dressed guy here. She growled softly as she recognised those Italian shoes and that silk tie.

_What's he doing here?_

She stared back at Zeke, shooting daggers at him with her eyes.

Now she really couldn't wait for this to be over and for her to get outside.

She was so glad she planned to leave this place forever.

There was nothing left for her here anymore. Her brother was gone, her lover loved somebody else and her friends all had problems of there own.

She had nothing.

Finally it was all over. She walked through the graveyard, ahead of all the others, not really wishing to be drawn into a conversation with them, just wanting to get out of there and get home to finish packing. She was already planning in her head what she was going to take and where she was going to put it all, how she was going to pack it all. But, like all great plans, it didn't work out that way.

"It's true you sold your guitar and brought a car?" she heard a voice sing out from behind her.

Sighing, Sharpay replied, turning on her heel to look back at Taylor and the rest of the group. "It's true – I'm leaving now for Santa Fe," she confirmed. She pointed at Zeke rather rudely, the gesture looking more like she was jabbing at him with her pointer finger. "It's true you're with this yuppie scum?" She emphasised the last word a little bit more than she meant to but she didn't care, the dam had been dented and now a little trickle of the anger she had within her came through.

"You said you'd never speak to him again," Zeke piped up, ignoring the death glare Sharpay was giving him.

"Not now," Taylor waved him off, earning a little smirk from Sharpay before she turned back to start walking up the hill, past all the graves.

"Who said that you have any say in who she says things to at all?" Gabriella joined the argument and Sharpay looked back at her, surprised.

"Yeah!" she added before going to walk by Gabriella.

"Who said that you should stick your nose in other people's..." Kelsi started before she was interrupted by Gabriella who thundered towards her in anger.

"Who said I was talking to you?!" she partially shouted.

Kelsi looked at Taylor and laughed softly. "We used to have this fight each night," she sang now locking her eyes Gabriella, who had now turned away from her.

"Calm down!" Troy tried in vain to shout-whisper over the others to make them stop ruining this day.

"She'd never admit I existed," Kelsi finally finished.

"Everyone please!" Troy still tried even though it was evident no one was interested in him and what he had to say.

"She was the same way," Taylor's voice rang out, stopping Sharpay in her tracks. She was half way up the stairs out of the graveyard but couldn't bring herself to leave while that beautiful voice filled her ears. "She was always 'Run away, hit the road, don't commit.' You're full of shit!"

The dam inside Sharpay that held all her anger at bay was getting seriously dented now. If Taylor didn't stop soon, it would come crashing down and they would have to deal with the full wrath of Sharpay, the girl who had shrugged off the Ice Queen persona ages ago yet held on to the Mountain Lion nickname with an iron grip.

"She's in denial," Kelsi sang, gesturing at the back of Gabriella, just so there was no confusion as to who she meant.

"She's in denial," Taylor seconded, staring deep into Sharpay's eyes.

"Didn't give an inch when I gave a mile!" Kelsi sang/yelled. Gabriella turned as and opened her mouth as if to respond but the words must have turned to ash on her tongue or died in her throat.

She was the only one to actually take Troy's advice. Seeing that he had got through to at least one person spurred him on to continue to try to reach the others; "Come on!" But he was drowned out by Taylor's voice once more ringing out.

"I gave a mile."

Sharpay snorted her laughter before responding, "Gave a mile to who?"

Troy tried again, this time joined in his attempt by Zeke; "Come on guys, chill!"

Their words fell on deaf ears as now both Kelsi and Taylor sang in a harmony that rang out, filling the graveyard with the sound of their beautiful voices.

"I'd be happy to die for a taste of what Ryan had, someone to live for, unafraid to say I love you!"

Tears streamed down Kelsi's face as she sang, which was a complete contrast to Taylor who wore a mask of complete anger. Sharpay looked down at her and the dam inside her broke.

"All your words are nice Taylor, but loves not a three way street," Sharpay spat back in Taylor's face. How dare she use her brother to make her feel guilty? "You'll never share real love, until you love yourself! I should know!"

Sensing that this could easily get out of hand and that Troy and Zeke were not doing anything to calm the situation, Chad barged in. He had physically push Sharpay back so she was no longer leaning into Taylor's face.

"You all said you'd be cool today, so please for my sake," he stared hard at Sharpay, willing her with his eyes to calm down. He then turned to face the rest of them, determined not to let them spoil this day any more than they already had. He looked down from where he stood by Sharpay on the steps, despair filling him at the sights that met his eyes. Kelsi stood there, tears streaming down her face while Gabriella stood with her back still to her and he knew it was so no one saw her cry. Troy stood with Zeke, both of them looking down sombrely at the ground beneath their feet. He moved down the steps, away from Sharpay and more towards Taylor, anger still twisting her face horribly. He looked at them all and continued; "I can't believe he's gone." He looked back up at Sharpay with nothing but sadness in his eyes. "I can't believe you're going." He looked down at Troy with tears in his eyes. "I can't believe this family must die." He had now reached the bottom of the stairs and was now standing right beside Taylor whose eyes were still locked on Sharpay. He looked at her in the hopes she would met his gaze and continued softly; "Ryan helped us believe in love, I can't believe you disagree."

Taylor lowered her eyes from Sharpay for the first time in minutes and tried to look at Chad but found she couldn't hold his gaze. She looked down at the ground in shame. She had spoiled this day for them all.

_I'm sorry Ryan._

She opened her mouth and let out the words that summed up how she felt. Apparently everyone else felt the same way because when she let the words pour from her soul, she found her voice was only one of many putting a voice to how she felt inside.

"I can't believe this is goodbye."

Everyone looked at one another, almost daring the others to move first. Sharpay was the first to 'give in'. She let a single tear fall from her left eye as she turned to leave. Taylor watched her go. She wanted to call out to her, to tell her to wait, to not leave, to give them another chance, but it seemed her voice had left her. She took no notice as Troy brushed past her to run to catch up to Sharpay, for once he was without his beloved camera and it almost seemed he couldn't wait to get back to it.

As to where Chad went, she had no clue. When Zeke appeared behind her and touched her shoulder, making her turn, he was simply not there. She stared past Zeke at Kelsi and Gabriella who were consoling one another with quiet whispers and soft kisses. She felt tears roll down her cheeks as she couldn't help but wish that was her and Sharpay.

She let herself be lead away from them by Zeke but continued to stare longingly at the love they shared.

* * *

Troy returned home after going out for a walk. The day had really gotten to him; he wasn't used to so much fighting and everyone being so emotional. He stood outside the door, using his sleeve to wipe away the tears that dropped from his eyes. He sniffed rather loudly to clear his nose and was answered with a loud bang that came from within. Tears forgotten he went inside. He looked at the various bags strewn around on the floor and remembered that Sharpay was leaving for Santa Fe. He sighed loudly, he never actually though Sharpay would go through with this. Today was just getting worse with every second. First came the funeral, now Sharpay leaving... today couldn't get any worse. 

He watched as Sharpay came into the room, lugging one bag behind her. She hadn't noticed him yet. He looked at all the bags and let a sad smile play on his lips as he went to help her. He grabbed the bag and opened his mouth, avoiding her gaze; "I hear there are great restaurants out west."

"Some of the best," Sharpay answered, not missing a beat. "How could she?"

Troy knew immediately who she was talking about, who else could it be? "How could you let her go?"

Anger sparked inside Sharpay. "You just don't know," she snapped. Not wanting to have a fight now she calmed herself, changing the subject. "How could we lose Ryan?"

"Maybe you'll see why, when you stop escaping your pain. At least now if you try, Ryan's death won't be in vain," Troy pleaded with her, stopping where he stood, still holding onto her bag.

Sharpay marched up to him ad reached for her bag. "His death is in vain!" she spat in his face, snatching her bag back from him.

Troy stayed where he stood, a disbelieving look on his face. "Are you insane?" her asked her, his tone almost angry. He softened his tone as he continued, not wanting to sound too harsh. "There's so much to care about, there's me there's Taylor."

"Taylor's got her baggage too."

"So do you."

Sharpay swivelled on her heel to give him a look that let him know she would kill him if she could. "Who are you to tell me what I know, what to do?"

"A friend!" Troy opened his arms out to Sharpay, almost as if he wanted to hug her but he couldn't quite bring himself to do it.

"But who Troy are you?"

Troy had no answer for this, not quite understanding what it was Sharpay meant.

"'Troy has got his work'," Sharpay started in an almost mocking tone. "They say 'Troy lives for his work' and 'Troy's in love with his work. Troy hides in his work." Sharpay did nothing to disguise the venom in her voice as she sang that to Troy's face.

"For what?!" Troy asked incredulously, a baffled look on his face.

"From facing your failure, facing your loneliness, facing the fact you live a lie," Sharpay sang again to Troy's face, letting him know she meant every word she uttered. "Tell you why, you're always preaching not to be numb when that's how you thrive." Troy opened his mouth to try to interject but Sharpay didn't give him a chance, carrying on as she had, needing to finish her little tirade. "You pretend to create and observe when you really detach from feeling alive."

This time Troy saw his chance to get a word in and he grasped at it with both hands. "Perhaps that's because I'm the one of us, to survive!" As soon as the words had left his mouth he regretted them. He had crossed the line and they both knew it. He shouldn't have brought up her illness in an argument, it wasn't fair.

Sharpay just stood there for a moment, shocked and disbelieving that Troy had actually just said that to her. After a moment, that uncertainty was gone. Left in its place was rage.

"POOR BABY!" she yelled at him before slinging her bag over her shoulder and walking towards the door. Sharpay was just about to open the door when she heard a strong voice call her back.

"Taylor still loves Sharpay, is Sharpay really jealous? Or afraid that Taylor's weak?"

"Taylor did look pale," Sharpay muttered to herself more than Troy.

Troy saw that he was getting through to Sharpay and tried even more, pushing it until he pushed it too far. "Taylor's gotten thin; Taylor's running out of time, Sharpay's running out the door."

"No more," Sharpay said, again more to herself than to Troy, wiping at her at her face. She then turned to face Troy, telling him to leave it. "No more! I've gotta go."

She reached for the door handle and slid the first door open.

In a last ditch attempt to get her to stay, Troy searched inside of him for something to say. Finding something, he finally yelled it so probably most of the building could hear him.

"For someone who's always been let down, who's running out of town?!"

Sharpay turned back to stare at him, anger blazing in her eyes. It didn't take her long to come up with a retort.

"For someone who longs for a community of his own, who's with his camera? Alone?"

Sharpay watched his face fall as she yelled back. That was when she realised that all he wanted was for her to stay. She walked back in to hold his shoulder comfortingly.

"I'll call," she said, a small smile playing on her lips.

He looked back up at her and returned her small smile, adding a small hint of sadness to it. He stood up straight and pulled her into a hug. "I hate the fall."

Sharpay separated from him and walked back towards the door and pulled on the second one so it swung open. The sight she saw there, framed by the little door way made her heart break.

"You heard?"

Tears streaming down her face, taking her mascara with it, Taylor tried to manage a smile and failed miserably. "Every word."

Taylor reached for the banister that ran along the stairwell, using it to pull herself up into a standing position. She locked eyes with Sharpay and Sharpay felt her heart thud harder against her chest as she stared into those pools of chocolate that she had fallen in love with so long ago.

"You don't want baggage without lifetime guarantees," Taylor sang, taking a tentative step towards Sharpay. The pain in her face and her eyes made Sharpay's heart stop thudding against her chest and slow until it almost didn't beat. "You don't want to watch me die?"

Tears started to slide down Taylor's face and Sharpay felt her heart ache for her. "I just came to say goodbye love, goodbye love," Taylor's face was so earnest and filled with pain, both emotional and physical, that Sharpay's heart couldn't take it anymore. She felt it shatter inside her chest like a mirror that had just been broken. She felt every shard tear into her inside, as if her heart were so brittle at this withdrawal from love that it was nothing more than a shell which broke into razor sharp splinters that were now shredding her apart inside. This was the exact situation that she wanted to avoid. Maybe that made her a coward but she didn't care. She didn't want this. Both she and Taylor had suffered enough pain recently, she just didn't want to add to that pain. At least that was her excuse. The reality was that she was just pathetic.

Tears welled up in her eyes and she couldn't stand to look at the blurry outline that Taylor had now become. This did not deter the other girl though, serving instead to spur her on, the pain fading from her voice and anger taking its place.

"Came to say, goodbye love, goodbye. Just came to say..."

This was it for Sharpay, the straw that broke her back. She needed to try to get through to Taylor, to tell her why she had to go. She heard the anger in her voice and understood perfectly where it was coming from. She didn't want to leave it like this, she didn't want to leave with Taylor angry at her. She was the only person ever that Sharpay had truly loved. She was certain she would never feel this way about any body ever again in the limited time that she had left on this earth. She blinked the tears from her eyes and looked back up to find Taylor not three feet from her.

"Glory!" her voice rang out, mingling with Taylor's until the sound of them both filled the stairway.

"Goodbye love." Taylor responded, her voice losing some of the power she had sang with before. The determination in Sharpay's eyes scared her slightly. She knew not what it was there for or why indeed it was there, and not knowing things scared Taylor.

"One blaze of..." Sharpay realised the intensity of her eyes was too much. She had tried to hard to show her determination and had left no room for the real emotion she was feeling inside; love.

"Goodbye love." Taylor unconsciously smiled a little at the sight of her lover's eyes softening. When she saw the love that shone from within them she took another, more certain, step forward towards her blonde goddess.

"Glory." Everything about Sharpay softened; her voice became more supple, and her posture more yielding to Taylor.

"Goodbye love." Taylor stepped forward and so did Sharpay until they were standing in front of one another. Sharpay wrapped her arms around Taylor's waist, pulling her towards her, and Taylor in turn threaded her arms round Sharpay's neck, pulling her head down until their foreheads were resting on each other. "Goodbye..."

"I have to find..." And Taylor finally understood. She wasn't the reason she was going, this was just something that she thought she had to do. Sharpay never took her eyes off of Taylor's and the seconds for which they stood there seemed to stretch on for years. Everything else dropped away and it was only them stood there. They each started to lean in for their final parting kiss when Sharpay caught sight of a figure in the shadows on the stairs. The figure stepped forwards out of the shadows, revealing himself as a bad reminder of why Sharpay couldn't kiss Taylor.

Sharpay promptly pulled away from Taylor, not letting their lips get within an inch of each other. She lowered her eyes to the floor and walked around Taylor to get to the top of the stairs. She walked as fast as she dared down them and pushed past Zeke, secretly hoping he would fall flat on his face. Without even sparing a glance backwards to get one last glimpse at the life she was leaving behind, Sharpay pushed the big double doors open and got into the old rusted Chevy she had parked up out front, ready fro her to jump in and drive away.

* * *

It was a good thing Sharpay didn't look back otherwise she would have seen Zeke walking up to her Taylor and trying to comfort her. Before he even touched her she flinched away from him, secretly blaming him for what had just happened. "Please don't touch me understand I'm scared, I need to get away." Taylor stepped away from both Zeke and Troy who had now emerged from his apartment. 

Taylor started to shake violently. She tried to hide it but all that did was make it more obvious that she was shaking. She silently cursed herself.

"I know a place, a clinic." Troy tried to offer his help even though he only expected to be ignored. After all it wouldn't be the first time today no one really listened to him.

Zeke rolled his eyes, slightly annoyed at the snubbing he was receiving off of Taylor. Then he took one look at Taylor and his heart and expression immediately softened. He knew Taylor was going through a rough patch in her life and that the only thing that made her feel even slightly better was Sharpay who had just left, probably because of him. He owed her. "A rehab?"

Taylor answered without even realising that she was admitting she had a problem. "Maybe." Then she realised that there was no way she could possibly go. Unless...

She turned to Zeke, a look of utter desperation on her face. "Will you?"

Zeke nodded biting his bottom. "I'll pay."

Feeling tears coming to her eyes, she ran as fast as she could down the stairs to her apartment on the floor below. She didn't want to break down in front of both Troy and Zeke, she couldn't let herself.

She wasted no time doing useless things like closing the door or even pausing to switch the lights on. She raced to the window, silently praying that she could catch one last peek of that blonde hair, even if all she saw was the back of her head.

Her heart leapt as she dashed out onto the fire escape to see her Sharpay pull away from the curb.

Tears creating rivers down her face, she sang out loud and proud, in one last futile attempt at getting her to stay. If it didn't work, maybe at least it would get her to look back so Taylor could see that beautiful face one last time. And if she was really lucky then maybe she would look back and give her that million dollar smile that always succeeded in lighting up a room.

"Goodbye love, goodbye love! Came to say, goodbye love, goodbye. Just came to say goodbye love, goodbye love!"

This evidently wasn't Taylor's lucky day. She got no smile, no last glance, not even a flick of the hair. The tears streamed faster down her face until she couldn't see anything except blurry shapes. Her beeper went off as Sharpay's white Chevy turned the corner. At least she thought it was her white Chevy...

"Goodbye love, goodbye love."

She reached into one of the pockets hidden in her skirt to get her AZTs. She plucked on out and held it to her mouth for a moment before she let it drop. She leant forward on the railing and tipped the contents of the small cylinder to the street below.

"Hello disease..."

Sharpay was gone. She had no more reason to live. Now she just had to wait for the virus to take hold...

**What do you think? Is it any good or should I just delete it?**

**I might continue this with a Gabriella/Kelsi centric chapter which would most likely be with the song **_**Take Me Baby Or Leave Me**_

**Please leave me a review saying what you think.**

**X**


	2. Light My Candle

**Thanks for all the reviews! It's really good to know that people like the idea and want to see it developed...**

**Though can I just say that if you are going to leave a snarky review, can you please leave a name as it does greatly help with the voodoo rituals ****I**** perform... and some would call it creative licence... **

**I edited the first chapter and changed some things by the way. Just little things like about Sharpay and Taylor so this would fit in with the first chapter.**

**Anyway ****I**** have decided that ****I**** will keep this story focused on the Taylor/Sharpay relationship and ****I**** will post the Kelsi/Gabriella one as another story.**** Then I think I will do another story focusing on Chyan that will start from the beginning as Jaba said I should do.**

Tears streaked down Sharpay's face as she drove away from her home, her friends and her only love.

_How did we end up here?_

This thought plagued Sharpay's mind as she attempted to drive her Chevy. Taylor's face was all she saw in her mind's eye, forever frozen in that look of complete devastation that it had worn when she swung open that second door. The hurt etched on her face and the pain in her eyes made her heart break every time.

_How did this happen to us?_

She thought about all the happy times, the times they had spent together as a group, the times when the only sound that could be heard was the sound of laughter. But every time she thought of something happy, the smiling, wrinkled face that Taylor had had always dissolved into the same sad, creased face that had been swimming through her mind since she left.

She took a hand off the wheel to wipe at the tears running down her face. She only closed her eyes for a moment as her sleeve covered hand mopped up the salty water on her face. But that moment was all it took. In that moment of darkness, Sharpay was transported into a memory that had been lost amongst all the other memories she had formed with Taylor, both good and bad. It occurred to her that it was a shame that such breathtaking memories that she should of treasured had been lost in the bog that was her mind and memory.

She was soon jogged from her rediscovered memory by the honk of a car horn. Sharpay opened her eyes to see a pair of headlights belonging to another car racing towards her. Out of shock alone, she pulled on the wheel, making the car swerve wildly, out of the path of the other car but also off of the road. Sharpay hit the wheel in frustration and pressed against the accelerator in a vain attempt to get the car back onto the road. The car stayed where it was and Sharpay again hit the wheel out of pure frustration.

She begrudgingly opened the door and stepped out. She travelled to the back of the car to survey the damage that she had caused to the car. She stood there, waiting for her eyes to adjust to the light of the moon.

_The moon..._

Sharpay smiled as she once again got pulled into another memory. The smile on her face grew and grew until it ended in a massive yawn that had Sharpay's face muscles tensing up in way that she couldn't help. Suddenly her limbs felt heavy and her feet felt like bricks on the ends of her legs. She looked at the car and decided it could at least wait until the sun rose above the horizon. She didn't have a clue what the time was but it was dark and the moon was out and that was enough for Sharpay to decide it was time for sleep.

There was no major damage done anyway, it was just that one of her back tires had gotten stuck in a hole while the other was hanging off a small overhanging. She could easily deal with it when she woke up in the morning... she didn't know how exactly she would deal with it but she was sure she could do it easily. So she dragged her feet the foot or so to her car door which she pulled open with arms of lead before collapsing with a sigh into the back seat. She couldn't be bothered to sit back up to try to close the door with her hand so she spent something close to ten minutes trying to hook her foot into the handle of the door to try to close it.

She didn't really succeed in her task to close the door; merely achieving pulling it closed enough so that it excluded the draft that had chilled her to the bone when the door was open. She conned herself into thinking that the door wouldn't close anymore than what she had pulled it to anyway.

With the illusion of safety fresh in her mind, she relaxed enough to drift into a peaceful, dreamless sleep.

* * *

A coyote yowled somewhere in the blackness that lay beyond the windows of the car. Sharpay jerked awake at the sound and had to hold back the scream that had started at the back of her throat as she realised she was not in any immediate danger. Finally she found the energy within herself to sit up and close the door properly. 

Half way through completing this action she realised that actually completing this action would make her fully awake instead of being able to stay in the blissful half awake state she was currently enjoying. But this was too complicated for her sleep fogged mind to process so she continued nonetheless. Only when she lay back down did she find the smog of lethargy had lifted from her consciousness.

She sighed loudly and shivered. She went to draw the blanket tighter around her but then she realised that she was no longer at home in her somewhat comfortable bed and that she was out in the middle of the desert in a beaten up old Chevy that would require physical effort to get back onto the road. She made a mental note to herself to get a blanket and to try to stop being so lazy. She knew it wouldn't take though. Not that she really cared.

She did the only thing she could be bothered to do... lay back down.

So she lay back and with nothing else to do, she thought about things. The problem was, whatever she thought about she somehow related it back to Taylor. Eventually she got tired of trying not to think about Taylor and just gave in to it all. She focused on Taylor and the absolute, soul wrenching sorrow she felt now that she had left her. Every memory she had of the time they spent together was now tainted by that sorrow. She was haunted by the face of her pain stricken lover, pain that she knew she was the cause of. If her heart wasn't already broken then the pain she now felt would have been worse she knew.

Eventually she drifted off into a peaceful but not so dreamless sleep. But what played in her mind weren't so much dreams as her recalling memories, and this time they were untainted by the sight of Taylor's tear lined face.

Then there was the memory of how she and Taylor met again, that was her favourite...

* * *

The power had been turned off in another stupid attempt to get them to move out or pay the rent that they had all been assured they didn't need to pay. Troy had gone out to try to find Chad who had come over to visit for Christmas, with Ryan getting held up at Gabriella and Kelsi's place. Troy had thrown the keys down to Chad but he had never got to their door. Troy was worried about his best friend/brother and had gone out into the night to see where he had gotten to. 

Which left Sharpay all on her lonesome in the loft, with only her guitar for company. She had been surprised by the knock at the door and had opened it just out of pure curiosity as to who would be knocking on her door. She found a dark skinned girl stood there whose face immediately had her mind whirling to place it. She knew that she knew this woman, she just didn't know from where.

Sharpay smirked as she remembered that detail. She couldn't believe she hadn't remembered who Taylor was, not that she had offered her name right away...

"What you'd forget?" Sharpay let slip before she could stop herself. She didn't want to sound rude but she honestly couldn't think of why this woman was standing her at her door. What annoyed her even more was the fact that she knew this woman and recognised her face, she just didn't know where she had seen her before.

The woman at the door held up a candle. "Got a light?" she asked, seemingly innocently.

"I know you... You're..." Sharpay was so close to placing the face in her mind she could almost taste it. When the woman moved past her into her apartment she did nothing to stop her. True she didn't know this woman but she knew she was no threat to either her or any of her or Troy's stuff. Not that there was much stuff... one of the advantages of being broke and unemployed she supposed. Her eyes followed the woman into the room, watching her as she walked. "You're shivering," she stated as she closed the door, grabbed her coat from the rack beside the door and followed the woman into the room.

She walked up to the woman and softly draped the coat over her bony shoulders. She responded by immediately clutching the coat to her tighter, completely contradicting what she next sang; "It's nothing they turned off my heat. And I'm just a little weak on my feet." She turned back to look up into Sharpay's brown eyes. "Would you light my candle?" She moved away from Sharpay to stand in front of the window. She swivelled round to face Sharpay once more just in time to catch Sharpay staring at her. "What are you staring at?" she deadpanned while taking the coat from around her and dropping it into Sharpay's arms who in turn dropped it to the floor somewhere behind her, all her attention focused on the mysterious woman now standing in her apartment.

Sharpay caught herself and quickly adverted her eyes, mentally scalding herself. "Nothing," she started before finding it within herself to meet this mysterious woman's gaze once more. "Your hair in the moonlight. You look familiar."

Now with the advantage of hindsight she understood the little smirk that Taylor had given her as she had sung that. She remembered quite clearly how she had looked that night, in her grey smock and fishnet tights with the high heeled boots. She particularly remembered how her hips had swayed as she had walked past her to the door. She also remembered how she had collapsed as she passed her and how she had moved quicker than she had ever done in her life to stop this stranger from falling to the floor. "Can you make it?" she asked out of genuine concern.

The woman stayed there for a moment in her arms, clutching to her shoulders tightly. "Just haven't eaten much today, at least the room stopped spinning." As if suddenly realising the posture she was in, she straightened until she could stand on her own and moved out of Sharpay's arms. She flashed her a small smile before she moved again to stand in front of the window. "Anyway... What?"

Sharpay wandered at how she hadn't been burned by the candle when she had caught her as the memory itself opened up a path leading to more painful memories that she had kept buried in the bog of her mind for a reason. There were just some things that were better left forgotten...

"Nothing. Your smile reminded me of..." Sharpay wandered at what she was doing. She was opening up to a complete stranger that she thought she knew but had no idea where from. She blamed the drugs personally...

The stranger rolled her eyes. "I always remind people of... Who is she?"

Sharpay was taken aback. Now she knew for definite that she had met this person before, she just couldn't place the face. She didn't tend to advertise the fact that she was a lesbian, preferring to tell only her close friends, all of whom she remained in contact with, apart from a few people from high school... "She died," she found herself saying before she could stop the sounds from leaving her throat. "Her name was Martha." Sharpay remembered how she had lowered her eyes to the floor at that point as she remembered the times she had shared with Martha.

A tear slid down Sharpay's cheek in her sleep. She and Martha had shared a complicated relationship. They had never official said they were going out but they had hooked up a few times and did spend a lot of time hanging out with one another. Apart from those times, they had never been what people would describe as close, but that didn't mean they both didn't care for each other deeply. Sharpay had taken Martha's death hard, but hadn't let it show to the rest of the school. The only people she had really opened up to were the other Wildcats.

Back in her memories, Sharpay remembered how she had only raised her eyes from the floor when the mysterious intruder had sung again. "It's out again," she held out her candle, which had indeed stopped burning. As Sharpay stepped forward, so did the stranger until they met halfway. She looked up into her eyes which were filled with real sorrow; "Sorry about your friend." She looked back down at her candle, then back up to look into her eyes in an almost pleading way, the sorrow now gone. "Would you light my candle?"

Sharpay had obliged the woman, and neither of them had moved. "Well."

"Yeah..." The woman seemed to be searching for a reason to stay where she was, even though they both sensed that it was time for her to go. "Ow!"

Sharpay had snapped to attention at the yelp of pain from the woman. She reached out and cupped her hands in her own, studying them and making sure there was no serious damage done. "Oh the wax, it's..."

"Dripping," the woman finished off her thought for her before continuing. "I like it between my..."

"Fingers," Sharpay finished for her, slightly scared that the woman would have said something else. "I figured." She stared into the woman's big brown eyes which stared seductively back at her and had felt herself drawn towards her. Her eyes darted down to look at the strangers lips for a second. "Oh well," she stopped herself before she got to close and started something she couldn't finish. "Goodnight." She nodded at the stranger, hoping she would get the message and leave her and her guitar alone for the night.

She sighed when the stranger had indeed turned to leave and had started towards the door. She walked over to the table and picked up her guitar again. She strummed a couple of chords before there was another knock at the door. She rolled her eyes and put down her guitar before going to the door again, figuring it was Troy returning with Chad and the key that he had thrown out to him. She had slid the door open and had her mouth open ready to scald them both for what she didn't know but she was sure she could make something up so she could take her frustration out on them. But they weren't there. In there place was the woman from before with her candle. "It blew out again?" she didn't even bother to try to stop the woman from walking into her apartment this time, instead just walking back to the table and putting her guitar away. It was evident she was going to get no where with her attempts at song writing tonight.

"No, I think that I dropped my stash."

Sharpay bristled at the mention of drugs. She decided to ignore it and focus on recognising the stranger. "I know I've seen you out and about, when I used to go out," Sharpay never went out anymore. After going through her withdrawal she had also withdrew from the world, choosing instead to stay in her apartment, alone with her guitar, desperately seeking some sort of redemption for everything she had done up to that point, thinking that finally finishing a song would do it.

"You're candles out," Sharpay observed.

"I'm illin'... I had when I walked in the door, it was pure," the stranger looked all around her frantically searching for the stuff that Sharpay knew she was hooked on. "Is it on the floor?"

"The floor?" Sharpay enquired, trying in vain to distract the stranger from her search. But there was an upside to the strangers searching. She dropped to the floor on all fours, leaving her ass wiggling in the pool of moonlight she was in. Sharpay couldn't help but stare at the sight of the woman's body in the light of the moon, her eyes taking in every curve of her body. It just so happened that the woman decided to turn back to look at her when she was admiring the curve of her very shapely behind, though it was true her gaze had lingered on that sight for longer than it had any other part of her body.

"They say that I have the best ass below 14th street, is it true?" she asked with a little smile.

"What?"

"You're staring again."

"Oh no," Sharpay's cheeks immediately lit up as she realised she had been caught staring. She frantically searched for the words to make it better and to make her not seem too much like a pervert. "I mean you do... have a nice..." She mentally slapped herself as she only succeeded in digging herself a deeper hole. Desperate to save at least the little sliver of her reputation that still remained intact, she tried to change the subject. "I mean... you look familiar."

"Like your dead girlfriend," the stranger retorted, still on her knees in the moonlight.

Sharpay bristled at the mention of Martha and the idea that she was her girlfriend.

Who did this woman think she was? Barging in here like that and then assuming things about her...

Sharpay decided to let the anger inside of her go, there was no point getting angry at this strange woman. So she thought up a retort of her own; "Only when you smile but I'm sure I've seen you somewhere else..."

The woman had long since gone back to her searching, sparing Sharpay only minimal attention. "Do you go to the Cat Scratch club? That's where I work, I dance, help me look."

Sharpay reluctantly dropped to her knees beside the woman, kind of preoccupied with raking through her memories of the times she had spent at the Cat Scratch club, the local strip joint. Suddenly something came to her, a minimally dressed vision outlined in the stage lights of the club... "Yes!" Sharpay exclaimed as she remembered. "They used to tie you up!"

Sharpay had stopped searching at the discovery of where she had met this woman before. She sat up on her knees and watched the other woman as she continued to search. She saw the woman roll her eyes as she answered with; "It's a living."

"I didn't recognise you without the handcuffs..."

Now it was the woman's turn to try to change the subject, her cheeks immediately flushing red. "We could light the candle." She reached behind the table to reveal her now smouldering candle. Sharpay sighed under her breath; she was tiring of this game. "Oh won't you light the candle?"

Again Sharpay yielded to the woman and the almost hear wrenching look she had on her face. Pulling out her matches she struck one easily and lit the candles wick for what must have been the umpteenth time. As the woman walked away from her she called her back from her search; "Why don't you forget that stuff? You look like your sixteen."

The woman spun on her heel to face Sharpay and stare into her eyes warmly with a spark of ferocity flickering within. "I'm nineteen, I'm old for my age," she drew closer and closer until she was stood right in front of her still staring into her eyes dead on, now with a small smile on her lips. "I'm just born to be bad." With her free hand she tried to reach out for Sharpay's hand but Sharpay drew back out of her reach before she could make contact.

"I once was born to be bad," Sharpay deadpanned. "I used to shiver like that."

"I have no heat I told you."

Sharpay shook her head slightly. It was probably true that she had no heat due to the power being turned off by Zeke, but she wasn't in her apartment right now. It was cold but it wasn't like the apartment they were currently standing in was freezing with your breath fogging in front of your face. There was even a small fire crackling away in the corner.

"I used to sweat."

"I got a cold." Even Sharpay could tell that the woman was now grasping at straws as to the reasons why she was acting like she was. Sharpay had fooled her into thinking that she had not noticed anything strange about the way she had been acting but Sharpay was very observant.

"Uh-huh," Sharpay sighed disbelievingly. "I used to be a junkie."

"But now and then I like to..."

Sharpay interrupted her, semi-urging her to tell the truth just this once; "Uh-huh." She fixed her with a hard stare, letting her strange new friend know she meant business.

"Feel good..."

Sharpay saw something out of the corner of her eye lying on the floor. "Oh here it... um..."

The stranger whipped her head around, her eyes lighting up in the hope that her stash had been found. "What's that?!"

"It's a candy bar wrapper," Sharpay thought up in the spot, realising that the rediscovery of the woman's stash would lead this meeting to a place that she didn't want it to go. Not to say she found it hard to slip the stranger's stash into the back pocket of her jeans, quite the opposite in fact. It made her reminisce about times past when such a hand gesture would have been second nature to her.

She was distracted from her thoughts of the year she wasted on drugs by the sudden movement of the woman towards her. Sharpay swallowed as the girl came forward holding out the flaming candle. "We could light the candle." She manoeuvred Sharpay towards the couch and gently pushed her backwards so she lost her balance and stumbled onto the couch.

Sharpay's eyes twinkled mischievously in the candlelight thrown over her face by the flickering flame that engulfed the wick. If this woman was intent to play this game then Sharpay wanted in as well. In the split second that the stranger took to flick her brown locks over her shoulders, Sharpay leaned forward and blew softly on the flame until it gave its last flicker and died.

The woman turned back and her gaze alternated between the candle in her hands and the blonde beneath her. She sat down on Sharpay's lap and leaned forward into her face; "What'd you do with my candle?"

Sharpay threw up her hands and plastered a puzzled look on her face. "That was my last match."

"Our eyes will adjust, thank god for the moon." The dark stranger leaned in further until their mouths were mere centimetres apart.

Sharpay let herself at least entertain the thought of closing that distance and having their lips met in a tender yet passionate kiss. But then her common sense took over again and she pushed the other woman off of her so she was now to the left of her. She turned to look past the stranger and her lustful glare to stare out of the window. "Maybe it's not the moon at all." she lowered her gaze until she met the other woman's chocolate eyes head on in a stare that she could only hope held the same passion that the woman's held. "I hear Spike Lee's shooting down the street."

The woman got to her feet again and walked towards the window, pretending to look out side. Sharpay watched her go, her mind struggling to remember something else that she knew about this dancer from the Cat Scratch club. There was something else that Troy had told her about her, something important... She cursed the name Mickey the Fish and all the drugs he had supplied her with. They had messed with her mind so much she couldn't even remember who she was most mornings. Even now that she was off them she still had to deal with the effects they had had on her then fragile mind.

"Bah humbug..." she heard the woman sing. Sharpay decided to get up and go and see what she was staring at through the fogged up window. She turned to look at her just before she got to the window. "Bah humbug."

She reached out to grasp Sharpay's hand in her own, using it to pull herself closer to Sharpay. Their faces again only a few centimetres apart, Sharpay's voice cracked as the passion she felt tried to escape anyway it could. "Cold hands..." Sharpay observed, trying to distract herself from the fact that she could feel the woman's warm breath on her cold cheek.

"Yours too," the woman retorted, her hands now working up Sharpay's arm. She kept the fingers of one hand interwoven with Sharpay's. She brought the two hands up in front of her face where she brought Sharpay's hand to her lips. "Big, like my fathers." Sharpay's brows furrowed at this, not at all please that this stranger had just called her a man. She tried to walk away but the woman pulled her back, pulling her off balance. But she caught her and spun her around until she was held in a dance like hold, off balance but surprisingly comfortable in this stranger's arms. "You wana dance?" the stranger asked with a smirk.

"With you?" Sharpay responded with a disdainful look, diluted by the smile that was spread across her face. The stranger pouted playfully back at her, a look which Sharpay barely had time to register before she found herself spinning and standing back up in front of the woman.

"No," the stranger smirked. She leant forward to whisper into Sharpay's ear; "With my father." As she pulled away she looked into Sharpay's eyes, her eyes sparkling in the moonlight. Sharpay looked the woman up and down, knowing that she knew this person from somewhere other than the Cat Scratch club.

"I'm Sharpay," she introduced herself, her mouth drawing closer and closer to that of the stranger's.

"They call me..." the woman replied. Sharpay took a moment to enjoy the warmth of this stranger close to her before she caught herself and drew back. This was absurd; she had only just met this woman. Well she hadn't really but she couldn't remember... Sharpay stopped herself before a growl escaped her lips. This whole situation was infuriating, especially with most of the anger she was feeling having no where to go other than to remain inside her.

"They call me, Taylor."

Sharpay smiled as a flood of memories resurfaced in her mind. Everything fit now, all the pieces of the metaphorical puzzle feel into place. She remembered that Troy had told her that Taylor had returned and that she was a dancer at the Cat Scratch club. She also remembered the times they had shared together at East High all those years ago... which actually wasn't all that long ago, it's just that Sharpay's sense of time was grossly distorted during the year they all referred to as the 'Wasted' year.

"I take it you remember me now?" Taylor said smirking at Sharpay's far away look.

Sharpay snapped back to reality and only smile in response. This was partially due to the fact that she hadn't really heard the question and that she had just come across a very good memory that had involved her, Troy, Taylor and pink jelly...

Sharpay gasped as she felt Taylor thrust her hand into her pocket. "Why Taylor you do make me blush," she giggled. She continued to giggle before she remembered herself and pushed Taylor away. "No."

Taylor had looked at her, an utterly baffled look on her face. "What?"

Sharpay stalked away from her towards the window. She couldn't take this.

"Go."

Taylor tried to follow her, to get her to come back. She had waited years to say and do these things; she had to finish this tonight.

"Shar..."

"No now go."

"Shar...?"

"Get out."

"But Shar..."

Sharpay whipped around so quickly her hair became like a weapon. Taylor backed off immediately, not wanting to get whipped in the face.

"Who do you think you are?" Sharpay exploded, the passion and anger she had been feeling replaced the delight she had felt only a moment earlier. Trouble was the passion and anger had mixed inside her, turning into a deep seething rage that clouded her mind. "Barging in on me and my guitar?"

She let her outrage show in her movements and her voice, gesturing madly with her hands to try to Taylor to understand her. How dare she just barge in here after all these years and act like this towards her? How dare she think she could open up old wounds by bringing up Martha? Those weren't things a friend, even one she hadn't seen in years, would do.

"Little girl, hey," she continued, gently pushing Taylor away from her when she tried to get close once more. "The door is that way. You better go you know, the fire's out anyway."

She wildly groped in her pocket for her stolen prize and upon finding it, threw it at Taylor more maliciously than she had intended to. "Take your powder, take your candle," she growled, wanting nothing more than for Taylor to leave. "Your sweet whisper, I just can't handle!"

She started to walk towards the door, her eyes never leaving Taylor's shocked face. "Well take your hair in the moonlight, your brown eyes," her voice rang out clearly in the otherwise silent apartment. She reached the door and held it open for Taylor, gesturing for her to walk through it. "Goodbye goodnight."

She then turned back to face out the doorway and collapsed against the frame, the haze the rage had created lifting from her vision for a moment. "I should tell you, I should tell you, I should tell you, I should... No!" The rage again set in and covered her inside; capturing every cell as it once again flooded her system.

She turned to Taylor once more and skulked towards her, standing tall and proud. "Another time, another place," she sang right up in Taylor's face. "Our temperature would climb; there'd be a long embrace."

Taylor opened her mouth to say something, to say that that was what she wanted, what she had came here this night for, but her admission was cut short by Sharpay's continued voice. "We'd do another dance, it'd be another play," Sharpay spat at Taylor. "Looking for romance?" Taylor started to nod but Sharpay didn't even look at her, she just turned around and walked back towards the window. "Come back another day, another day."

Taylor looked back towards the door, determined not to walk out of it. She turned back to Sharpay and started to almost plead with her. "The heart may freeze or it can burn," she let her voice ring out. Sharpay had said her piece now she was saying hers. "The pain will ease, if I can learn." She walked up behind Sharpay and reached out for her shoulder. "There is no future, there is no past," she grasped Sharpay's shoulder and Sharpay allowed herself to enjoy the touch of another person for a moment. Encouraged, Taylor leaned in to whisper in Sharpay's ear; "I live this moment as my last."

Taylor started to turn Sharpay round in her arms until they were face to face. She lowered her voice and stared into Sharpay's eyes intensely.

"There's only us, there's only this."

Sharpay stared back into her eyes, losing herself in the touch of her friend. She hadn't let anyone get this close to her in over a year, physically or emotionally, which really was stupid. There were people who had been there for her throughout her life like Troy and Ryan who she hadn't so much as hugged since high school and then there was Taylor who she was never particularly close to, even in high school, and hadn't even seen for three years who she was letting hold her like she was her lover or something.

"Forget regret, or life is yours to miss."

Taylor searched Sharpay's eyes for a slight hint as to how she was feeling. She knew she personally felt very good at the moment, her body pressed so tightly against Sharpay's. She knew she sounded like a perverted stalker but this was what she had been dreaming of for years. At school she had always had a little schoolgirl crush on Sharpay but had never acted on it. She was going to act on it but then came the exams and the deaths and it had just been swept away with everything else that was happening.

"No other road, no other way."

Seeing no sign of resistance, Taylor closed the distance between their lips.

"No day but today..."

Sharpay watched her get closer and closer and still did nothing to stop it. Their lips brushed before she remembered herself and the situation she was in and her own condition. She pushed Taylor away from her roughly, not meaning to but still doing it. She didn't mean to come across so mean but she was doing it for the girl's own protection.

"Excuse me if I'm off track, but if you're so wise, why do you need smack?"

Taylor let her mouth hang open at the sudden turn around of Sharpay's mood. All she wanted was for the blonde girl to be in her arms...

"Take your needle, take your fancy prayer. And don't forget; get the moonlight out of your hair."

Sharpay walked forward, towards Taylor, making her back away.

"Long ago... you might've lit up my heart. But the fire's dead... ain't never ever guna start."

Taylor backed up against a wall, yet still Sharpay came forward, pining Taylor to the wall.

"Another time, another place. The words would only rhyme; we'd be in outer space."

Taylor made the mistake of trying to move, giving Sharpay the opening she needed to reach forward and place her hand on Taylor's leg. She slowly slid it up, over the fishnets, teasingly tickling the skin underneath.

"It'd be another song, we'd sing another way."

Taylor's mouth formed a little 'o' as Sharpay's fingers found their mark. She let out a soft groan and she visibly relaxed.

"You wana prove me wrong?" Sharpay whispered in her ear before pulling her hand back to her side. Taylor moaned in disappointment and opened her eyes which had been screwed shut due to the pleasure that had been shooting up her spine, to look at Sharpay like a kicked puppy. She even whimpered like one.

"Come back another day."

Sharpay stepped back from Taylor, looking down at her hands disbelievingly. She couldn't believe what she had just done or how forward she had just been. Never in her life had she been so forceful with anyone. She had always let the other person take the lead as it were, never doing anything without asking or being asked first.

Not to say that Taylor minded at all. She took a moment to compose herself, not trusting her voice after what had just happened to her. She steadied herself against the wall before drawing in a deep breath, both to calm herself and so she could let out how she felt; "There's only yes, only tonight."

She stumbled forward and Sharpay despite herself, rushed forward to help support her. She held onto Taylor's forearms and looked up into her hopeful eyes.

"We must let go, to know what's right."

Unshed tears made Sharpay's eyes glitter.

"No other course."

As soon as the tears started to fall, Taylor was there to wipe them off of her cheeks.

"No other way."

Taylor looked up at Sharpay and pure love shone out of her eyes like a little lamp. She planted her hands on either side of Sharpay's face, just holding her face as hot tears flowed down her cheeks.

"No day but today."

Taylor pulled Sharpay's tear streaked face down so their lips could meet again. This time Sharpay couldn't be bothered to even try to resist. She knew that Taylor had won this battle. She could at least be rewarded for holding out as long as she had with one kiss. There would be nothing more, she just wanted to feel those plump, feather soft lips brush hers again in a tender kiss.

Their lips were just about to meet when the sound of Sharpay's beeper rang out, echoing in the still apartment.

Sharpay pulled away somewhat reluctantly and walked to the table, pausing a moment when she got there to switch her beeper off. She picked up the little orange cylinder and popped the lid off, plucking a pill out and placing it in her mouth.

"AZT break," she heard Taylor's voice call after her. Confused she spun on her heel, where she was rewarded with a sight she had never expected to see in a million years. There was Taylor with a little orange cylinder of her own. Sharpay was almost literally knocked off her feet.

"You?" she asked disbelieving.

"Me," Taylor responded with a little nod. "You?"

Sharpay nodded back; "Taylor."

Sharpay walked forwards, letting all her inhibitions go now. Taylor sensed this and met her halfway.

They met and the sexual tension that had been hanging in the air ever since Taylor had first mentioned her name suddenly dissipated. Their lips met in the kiss that they both wanted to have for so long, because, to tell the truth, Sharpay had had a little crush on Taylor in high school as well.

* * *

Needless to say, Sharpay slept with a smile in her face that night. And the coyote wasn't the only thing yowling that night out in the desert either... 

**Two out of three chapters done now...**

**I thought the beginning of this chapter sucked a little bit**** but then got slightly better. Please don't have a go at me because I kind of changed the situations in which the songs are sung. I know I used **_**Another Day **_**and the end bit from **_**La Vie Boheme **_**but they fitted the chapter so I thought what the hell. But I don't mean t offend or upset anyone and if I have then I am sorry.**

**Please leave me a review telling what you think.**

**R.F.L.C**

**X**


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